I don't bake often, or very well, and when I do, I can be a bit of a lazy baker.

Up until a couple of years ago, when a recipe said to "butter and flour the pan", I'd drench my cake pans with cooking spray. Then I'd watch little puddles form in the corners as the spray slid down the sides of the pans.

One day my friend Cindy, an executive pastry chef, introduced me to baking spray -- cooking spray with flour added -- "butter and flour" in a single can.

No sliding, no pooling. You spray, and it stays.

Baker's Joy, which has been around for 25 years, contains soybean oil; PAM Baking Spray and Trader Joe's baking spray are canola oil based. They work well, add no calories or carbs to baked goods, don't leave an aftertaste, and have a shelf-life of forever.

Lucia's walnut cake

From Faith Heller Willinger's Adventures of an Italian Food Lover, this dense, richly flavored, not too sweet cake serves 6-8. Add a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to each plate when you serve, if you wish.

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Do not use a convection oven. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan with baking spray.

Combine 3 egg whites and 1/3 cup sugar in a heavy saucepan and stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until the mixture looks like melted marshmallows, 10 minutes or more.

In a large bowl, with a whisk, beat the remaining 3 egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.

Mix the walnuts into the cooked egg whites. Stir a heaping spoonful of the beaten egg whites into the walnut mixture, then fold the remaining whites in carefully. Transfer the batter to the pan, sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 Tbsp sugar, and bake 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out dry.

Comments

You've done it - you've convinced me I need baking spray. I've always resisted it, because it just seemed so artificial. And to think I've been wrangling with a stick of butter and a bundt pan for years! I am definitely going to give it a test run and see how I like it. Thanks!

I fell in love with baking spray (in fact, it was that particular Trader Joe's spray that originally converted me) the first time I used it. The only problem with keeping it around is that I bake far more when I have it in my cabinet than I do when I've run out.

What an unusual way of using egg whites. I wonder if you could use "Just Whites" or the egg whites that come in a container. I would have little use for 6 egg yolks and dislike throwing away "good stuff". This pie must be the chewiest!!!!

Thanks for the tip! I've never heard of baking spray before. I used some sort of PAM spray at my mother's house last weekend when I made a tart for Easter; now I wonder if it was a baking-specific spray.

Just fyi, the baking spray would not be good for a gluten-free cake (if you are truly Celiac!). ;) I use extra virgin olive oil spray because of refining process used to treat canola and soybean oil, but a spray here and there doesn't amount to much. Sounds like a convenient product!

That cake is gorgeous. Thanks for sharing the photos and recipe. Will definitely be trying it!

I used to use spray, but I've got back to the old shortening (organic natural of course) and flour. It just seems to work better for me than the spray. I also am learning to love baking things in cast iron, no flour needed, only a good rub down with shortening and you're good to go, and those crusts come out perfecty crispy and light.

Kathy, it's certainly worth testing the spray to see if you like it. Can't beat the convenience of it.

Lauren, you are absolutely right, and thanks for mentioning that the baking spray is not GF.

Chiot's Run, a well-seasoned cast iron pan should not need any type of greasing for many applications. It takes a long time to season your pans to perfection! This spray will be great for baking in other types of pans, I think.

Natashya, for Bundt pans, this stuff is amazing! I know you will love it.

Hurrah for Baker's Joy! I've been using it since it first became available with few failures over the years.

Haven't tried Trader Joes since the nearest would involve a trip on two buses (thank goodness for a bus pass). I have used the Pam spray and wasn't happy with it. It seems to have a fake vanilla scent and caused my cake to stick.

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Welcome to The Perfect Pantry®

My name is Lydia Walshin. From my tiny kitchen in Boston's South End, I share recipes that use what we keep in our pantries, the usual and not-so-usual ingredients that spice up our lives. Thanks so much for visiting.